The American dream as seen through the classic lemonade stand in the neighborhood.

[Twilight Hue]

And now the very same dream is killing us as a nation.

The American Dream Is Killing Us

I found this to be an amazing opinion piece as to what's been happening to us as well as the ideologies behind the American dream.

It seems all of it had a shelf life and it's now past the expiration date.

What do you do?

 

[sun rise]

That piece very much reflects how I see things for many today. This to me is the key question:

The question is how well we will adapt and mature to this new reality. Will we accept it and modify our ethos to match the 21st century? Or will we become petulant and angry and scapegoat our cognitive dissonance of our national consciousness away?

An organization I volunteer with has the philosophy that we have a distribution problem. The US has a material abundance beyond compare. The motto is "all of us taking care of all of us" to reflect that every human being is "created equal" - one of the root founding principles of the USA.

So much good food is thrown away that with just a bit of an effort, food insecurity can vanish and people have enough to eat.

Clothing, toys and books can be rescued and given to people who need them. I work in the clothing side of things. Our motto is "would you give this item to your brother, sister or dearest friend?"

So I'm doing what little I can to make a change of ethos manifest.

And one of my weaknesses is to get all riled up by those in public office who manifest and promote petulance, anger and scapegoat others (among other things).

 

[Shadow Wolf]

What do you do?

I think hell froze over now that we came across the same article and agree on it.
My own thoughts on the American Dream, "it's called a dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it." (George Carlin)
And I've found it to be true. I was raised that hard work gets results, but the harder I worked the less I got. And then I lied and cheated my way to the top during the recession. Then I quit trying hard and got even more reward. I quit working hard, and basically quit working, and I've never been this well off before. And then, though I'm not proud, there was that time I was doing crime and the payoff there can be astounding. So, hard work in the end was just a massive waste of time for me.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Good read!

 

[Stevicus]

And now the very same dream is killing us as a nation.

The American Dream Is Killing Us

I found this to be an amazing opinion piece as to what's been happening to us as well as the ideologies behind the American dream.

It seems all of it had a shelf life and it's now past the expiration date.

What do you do?

I think it's an excellent piece. I think the "American Dream" has been one of the big lies, along with "American Exceptionalism." Anyone who has made any serious study of U.S. history knows exactly how America became rich and powerful, and yet, we try to delude ourselves into thinking that it's all due to hard work and ingenuity.

As the article pointed out, there really is no one to blame for our current dilemma:

But why? What happened? Where did we go wrong or did we even go wrong? Who can we blame in angry Twitter rants or at cocktail parties?

Well, there’s actually no one to blame. It’s just that the strategies and beliefs that the country were founded upon have finally bumped up against their limitations:

1. No More Land.
   
   
2. No More Cheap Labor.
   
   
3. Innovation is Now Creating Fewer Jobs, Not More.
   

In other words: the lemonade party is over. The customers have stopped coming. The market is contracting. The easy money for anybody who wanted it is now gone.

In other words, the country was built up and thrived on aggressive expansionism, slavery, exploitation, robber barons, etc. But apparently, the powers that be in this country were ashamed of what they did, so they proceeded to invent a great deal of mythology and other BS we commonly associate with "Americana." The "American Dream" has been a large part of this mythology.

The problem with embracing myths is that, eventually, people start to believe them. Moreover, people can become quite unsettled when they finally realize that they've been fed a pack of lies. This explains what happened during the Civil Rights era and the Vietnam era, when a lot of lies were exposed. A lot of Vietnam vets (along with guys in the intel community, such as Christopher Boyce and Edward Snowden) have said that they once believed in American values and myths, but came to realize (from their own first-hand experience) that they were nothing but lies.

This may also partly explain the political divides within America. Essentially, both factions are fighting over mythological perceptions of America is and what America should be.

Some believe that America should remain the "Shining City on the Hill," a welcoming land of opportunity, and a global leader to promote/defend freedom, democracy, truth, justice, and the American Way. They want America to continue its policies of globalism, free trade, interventionism, outsourcing, immigration, etc.

Others believe that America should turn inward and think only of "America First." As the article points out:

In fact, it’s now the opposite: now there are millions of hardworking, intelligent people who are living from paycheck-to-paycheck and are stuck in jobs with few opportunities for advancement and little hope for the future.13 And many of these people are pissed.

They may believe that their advancement is thwarted by America's globalist policies, and they may also believe that an "America First" policy would free up resources and give them a better standard of living.

That's where a lot of support for Trump comes from, and the problem the Democrats are facing is that they've been thus far unwilling or unable to address this particular point. They have no answers for the "millions of hardworking, intelligent people who are living from paycheck to paycheck" other than "get used to it."

Of course, Sanders offers proposals which appear to be in the spirit of the "American Dream" and the general idea that America is a free, prosperous society which is a "Shining City on a Hill," which means that we have more than enough excess wealth to take care of the poor and disadvantaged. If the propagandists are correct, then there is enough wealth to sustain the country, even if more than half the population is on the dole.

Either way, someone will eventually have to admit that the "American Dream" has been an ocean of hogwash all along.

 

[BSM1]

That piece very much reflects how I see things for many today. This to me is the key question:


An organization I volunteer with has the philosophy that we have a distribution problem. The US has a material abundance beyond compare. The motto is "all of us taking care of all of us" to reflect that every human being is "created equal" - one of the root founding principles of the USA.

So much good food is thrown away that with just a bit of an effort, food insecurity can vanish and people have enough to eat.

Clothing, toys and books can be rescued and given to people who need them. I work in the clothing side of things. Our motto is "would you give this item to your brother, sister or dearest friend?"

So I'm doing what little I can to make a change of ethos manifest.

And one of my weaknesses is to get all riled up by those in public office who manifest and promote petulance, anger and scapegoat others (among other things).

The fact that so many have so much to give away belies your argument against this system. Are there wrongs to be righted? Absolutely. Will some have more than others? Always has been that way. But why would you want to espouse a system takes possibly leaves no one with anything except what a governing entity allows?

 

[Laika]

And now the very same dream is killing us as a nation.

The American Dream Is Killing Us

I found this to be an amazing opinion piece as to what's been happening to us as well as the ideologies behind the American dream.

It seems all of it had a shelf life and it's now past the expiration date.

What do you do?

Despite being in the far left for so long, I have grossly under-estimated just how utterly corrupt and criminal this system is. I thought a "reality-check" would have occured and kicked in by now. I thought even sheer self-interest and self-preservation would mean there were limits. But apparently this is not going to be the case. The "system" (however you conceive it or whoever you blame and hold responsible) appears absolutely determined to lie its way in to oblivion and deny that anything is going wrong rather than change course. It can't work forever because we can see the corruption and problems with our own eyes as we go about our lives.

So. I don't know. I don't have the same certainty I did ten years ago. But in the end, it all depends on ordinary people remembering what they share in common and working together to find something better.

There is no system of government so powerful that it can prevent its own destruction. The nazis lost the war and the soviets collapsed so that is even true of totalitarian systems. The belief in an all-powerful government that can rule forever is a myth, even if it may feel like forever and take a great deal of suffering to get to that point.

Things will change, but perhaps not on the more favourable terms we might have hoped. Eventually enough people are going to be pissed off, lying won't be enough anymore.

Watch this space. the next few years are going to get even more interesting.

 

[Father Heathen]

The fact that so many have so much to give away belies your argument against this system. Are there wrongs to be righted? Absolutely. Will some have more than others? Always has been that way. But why would you want to espouse a system takes possibly leaves no one with anything except what a governing entity allows?

Really? You're going to drag that tired straw man out, as if that was the only alternative? Corrupt, abusive, exploitive, monopolizing corporate hegemonies. The cost of living is outpacing salaries and wages. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, regardless of how hard they work. People are driven into dept or into the grave by inflated medical costs, etc.
But uh oh, if you try to fix the system, Lenin's revenant will burst forth from his glass coffin and hide under your bed.

 

[dianaiad]

Really? You're going to drag that tired straw man out, as if that was the only alternative? Corrupt, abusive, exploitive, monopolizing corporate hegemonies. The cost of living is outpacing salaries and wages. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, regardless of how hard they work. People are driven into dept or into the grave by inflated medical costs, etc.
But uh oh, if you try to fix the system, Lenin's revenant will burst forth from his glass coffin and hide under your bed.

Oh, do please give us a really good example of somewhere that did not happen. Please. With the exception of 'hiding under the bed' History has shown us that there doesn't seem to be a great deal of 'middle' here. Either its individualism with all the consequences of good and bad choices, or the government telling individuals 'you can't do that."

Personally, I would like to find the middle ground in which living was save and comfortable....AND individuals had the freedom to choose their life paths as they wish, and do as they wish, but, er.....I haven't seen one yet.

 

[PureX]

Despite being in the far left for so long, I have grossly under-estimated just how utterly corrupt and criminal this system is. I thought a "reality-check" would have occured and kicked in by now. I thought even sheer self-interest and self-preservation would mean there were limits. But apparently this is not going to be the case. The "system" (however you conceive it or whoever you blame and hold responsible) appears absolutely determined to lie its way in to oblivion and deny that anything is going wrong rather than change course. It can't work forever because we can see the corruption and problems with our own eyes as we go about our lives.

So. I don't know. I don't have the same certainty I did ten years ago. But in the end, it all depends on ordinary people remembering what they share in common and working together to find something better.

There is no system of government so powerful that it can prevent its own destruction. The nazis lost the war and the soviets collapsed so that is even true of totalitarian systems. The belief in an all-powerful government that can rule forever is a myth, even if it may feel like forever and take a great deal of suffering to get to that point.

Things will change, but perhaps not on the more favourable terms we might have hoped. Eventually enough people are going to be pissed off, lying won't be enough anymore.

Watch this space. the next few years are going to get even more interesting.

The United States has been here before. Though very few of it's citizens seem to be aware of this. There was a time in the past when very large, very wealthy corporations controlled both government and commerce with such greed and efficiency that they strangled and robbed the working classes to the point of starvation and death. And then used their massive accumulation of wealth to turn the stock market into their own personal gambling casino. And as always happens, all that greed running amok finally crashed the whole social-economic system, and caused the great depression. And meanwhile, in the wake of WW1, eastern Europe was going fascist, because the people there were socially humiliated for losing the previous war, and economically impoverished due to the imposition of massive war reparations. (People tend to become inclined to fascism when they see their current government totally corrupt, incompetent, and unresponsive to their plight.) So the American people were FORCED to unite against the forces of greed and corruption at hope, and against the forced of fascism abroad. And it was this newfound inclination toward unity that saved the U.S. from itself, and from the eave of fascism sweeping the world at that time.

But where is the instigation for that unification of the people, this time? Have things simply not gotten bad enough to force us to rely on each other for our very survival? Do they have to get that bad? I don't know. All I know that so far, we're happy to see our neighbors lose everything so long as its not us. In fact, we'll even blame them as we watch them struggle and disappear. AND we are sliding slowly into fascism ourselves, now. Where will it end, this time? I don't know.

 

[sun rise]

The fact that so many have so much to give away belies your argument against this system. Are there wrongs to be righted? Absolutely. Will some have more than others? Always has been that way. But why would you want to espouse a system takes possibly leaves no one with anything except what a governing entity allows?

You read politics into my post in spite of my extensive comment about individuals doing what they can to fix things - with examples.

An organization I volunteer with has the philosophy that we have a distribution problem. The US has a material abundance beyond compare. The motto is "all of us taking care of all of us" to reflect that every human being is "created equal" - one of the root founding principles of the USA.

But I guess that you don't believe in the Declaration of Independence statement:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

 

[Revoltingest]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

What does that mean to you?

 

[sun rise]

What does that mean to you?

It means that our ultimate maturity as people and a nation is when we see everyone as our brothers and sisters who we help as needed. And we do that automatically without any compulsion because of who we've become.

Of course we're far from that today so compromise is necessary. Thus I'm in favor of equal opportunity but not mandating equal results. And I'm in favor of government removing barriers to equal opportunity with well-funded schools, health care and so forth.

 

[Revoltingest]

It means that our ultimate maturity as people and a nation is when we see everyone as our brothers and sisters who we help as needed. And we do that automatically without any compulsion because of who we've become.

Of course we're far from that today so compromise is necessary. Thus I'm in favor of equal opportunity but not mandating equal results. And I'm in favor of government removing barriers to equal opportunity with well-funded schools, health care and so forth.

Ya know....if I gave you a few swift kicks in the caboose,
I think I could nudge you into the Libertarian Party.

 

[sun rise]

Ya know....if I gave you a few swift kicks in the caboose,
I think I could nudge you into the Libertarian Party.

In my heart, I am libertarian. But given the moral and ethical maturity of humanity, I'm a democratic socialist when it comes to government's role in ensuring equal opportunity.

But someday when Humanity 2.0 has matured, my tactical alignment will give way to my strategic preference.

 

[BSM1]

It means that our ultimate maturity as people and a nation is when we see everyone as our brothers and sisters who we help as needed. And we do that automatically without any compulsion because of who we've become.

Of course we're far from that today so compromise is necessary. Thus I'm in favor of equal opportunity but not mandating equal results. And I'm in favor of government removing barriers to equal opportunity with well-funded schools, health care and so forth.

Good grief. No wonder you have nightmares.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Despite being in the far left for so long, I have grossly under-estimated just how utterly corrupt and criminal this system is. I thought a "reality-check" would have occured and kicked in by now. I thought even sheer self-interest and self-preservation would mean there were limits. But apparently this is not going to be the case. The "system" (however you conceive it or whoever you blame and hold responsible) appears absolutely determined to lie its way in to oblivion and deny that anything is going wrong rather than change course. It can't work forever because we can see the corruption and problems with our own eyes as we go about our lives.

So. I don't know. I don't have the same certainty I did ten years ago. But in the end, it all depends on ordinary people remembering what they share in common and working together to find something better.

There is no system of government so powerful that it can prevent its own destruction. The nazis lost the war and the soviets collapsed so that is even true of totalitarian systems. The belief in an all-powerful government that can rule forever is a myth, even if it may feel like forever and take a great deal of suffering to get to that point.

Things will change, but perhaps not on the more favourable terms we might have hoped. Eventually enough people are going to be pissed off, lying won't be enough anymore.

Watch this space. the next few years are going to get even more interesting.

One of my biggest questions is how in the world we arrived to where we're at in today's political and economic landscapes.

This is one time I would take off the partisan robes and take a good long look at what exactly happened from the inception of this country to where we're at right now.

Left right , it really doesn't matter because we all are in the same boat with this one.

At least collectively, I would say the vast majority of people here on RF sense that something is incredibly and horribly wrong with our country.

 

[PureX]

Here is an excellent related essay: LINK

Does America Have Capitalist Stockholm Syndrome?

(Exerpts)

"... Everytime I write an essay about economics here, up pops a veritable chorus telling me how wonderful capitalism is. It’s not just me — you can see the same thing at work everywhere, more or less, just read the comments."

"The really strange thing about today is that most of the people who leap to capitalism’s defense fastest and most furiously…aren’t capitalists. And they never will be. They can’t be. Just 10% of America owns stocks, and even less owns bonds. Even less — maybe 1%, if that — make enough money from capital to call it their main income. And their incomes are shrinking, at a record pace. So the Rick’s dads of the world have never made enough money from capital income to live off it, and that’s why they’ll never really retire. They don’t send their kids to school with capital gains. They don’t pay for skyrocketing healthcare bills by liquidating trust funds. They’re just average wage-earning schmoes, like the rest of us. And yet despite the fact that they’re not capitalists and never will be, they’re also exactly the ones who defend capitalism most."

"So the fiercest everyday defenders of capitalism in America are those who’ll never be capitalists— in fact, they seem to be those who are being exploited by capitalists. They’ll never be capitalists, in either the sense of ownership or income, since their already meager incomes are shrinking, so they own and make less, every year. What the? What gives? Shouldn’t they be the critics of capitalism?"

"Do you see the kind of Stockholm Syndrome at work here? Let me make it clearer. Who are the biggest losers from capitalism over the last few decades? It’s white American men. Their life expectancy is falling. Their income is cratering. Their suicide rates are rising. They’re suffering what Angus Deaton, the renowned economists, calls “deaths of despair.” And yet they’re also the ones who defend capitalism most, tooth and nail — even while its sealing shut their coffins. Women don’t, minorities don’t, young people don’t — yet they haven’t lost nearly as much as middle-class white men have. Isn’t that strange? Bizarre? Gruesome?"

"How did Capitalism Stockholm Syndrome come to be? Probably because those middle class white men gained the most from capitalism, too. Once upon a time, they lived the dream. But then, as capitalism ran out of other people to exploit, it turned on them. The instant that segregation ended, American wages began to stagnate — both these things happened in 1971. Was that a coincidence? Or was it because American capitalism needed someone to prey on — and it didn’t care much, in the end, whether they were white or black, men or women, old or young? And yet, because they grew so attached to capitalism, now they seem unable to see the simple truth that it’s preyed on them, too. But attached in what way, precisely?"

"Stockholm Syndrome is a subtle thing. It doesn’t just mean people sympathize with their captors — it means that they internalize their values, to the point that their identities are remade, which is what Marx was trying to say, but perhaps didn’t have the language to. There’s Rick’s dad. He watches Fox News — he thinks, in a kind of ironic way, rolling his eyes at the more outrageous statements. But the message still seems to sink in. He pores over the Wall Street Journal every morning — as if he were the capitalist he never was, and he’ll never be. His identity seems to have been suffused into capitalism itself, and hence the moment that I try to question it, it’s as if I’m attacking him. Bang! Out pours the stern moral lecture on the virtues of capitalism. Isn’t that what all the Ricks’ Dads do, though? Their identity is inextricably woven into capitalism now — it’s part of them in an existential way, it seems. To question capitalism is to attack them — as providers, as men, as beings, as people, as husbands, as fathers."

"So you can’t talk to the Rick’s Dads of the world with facts, reason, evidence, or logic. To say, “Italians and French people live five years longer than Americans!” is only to provoke disbelief and scorn and opprobrium. It just doesn’t work — because in a very real sense, there is capitalism where a self should be. No capitalism — no self. But capitalism says that the self is only as worthy as it is wealthy — which is to say that is inherently worthless. Bang! The trap has sprung. Now the prisoner is trapped. He must forever try to regain the very self-worth, the sense of selfhood, that capitalism has denied him, through…more capitalism."

"And that to me is one of the great tragedies of capitalism. Marx was right. Capitalism does produce a false consciousness. Those who’ll never be capitalists are exactly those who defend it most. The imploded middle classes — in Marxist terms, the upper proletariat and the petite bourgeoisie — these days, are capitalist’s staunchest and truest defenders. Not just because they “hope to be capitalists one day” — a cognitive cause. But because capitalism replaced their sense of self. They seem to be pushed to the edge of breakdown without it, unable to function at all as confident, optimistic, integral, empathic human beings with inherent self-worth, self-directedness, and self-knowledge. Remember Rick’s dad poring over the Journal, watching Fox News, and so on? First and last comes capitalism. Then comes everything else. Family, happiness, books, ideas, truth, beauty, life."

 

[Father Heathen]

Oh, do please give us a really good example of somewhere that did not happen. Please. With the exception of 'hiding under the bed' History has shown us that there doesn't seem to be a great deal of 'middle' here. Either its individualism with all the consequences of good and bad choices, or the government telling individuals 'you can't do that."

Personally, I would like to find the middle ground in which living was save and comfortable....AND individuals had the freedom to choose their life paths as they wish, and do as they wish, but, er.....I haven't seen one yet.

"If we can't let corporations abuse their power and cheat/exploit the people, then we'll have to let the government abuse its power and cheat/exploit the people."

What?

As for the personal freedom of individuals (which I staunchly support), I'm not sure how that ties in, but I'm confused as to how someone who votes for a party with a history of opposing LGBT rights, reproductive rights, cannabis legalization, etc. would care about that.

 

[Laika]

One of my biggest questions is how in the world we arrived to where we're at in today's political and economic landscapes.

This is one time I would take off the partisan robes and take a good long look at what exactly happened from the inception of this country to where we're at right now.

Left right , it really doesn't matter because we all are in the same boat with this one.

At least collectively, I would say the vast majority of people here on RF sense that something is incredibly and horribly wrong with our country.

I live in the UK, but having been on RF for so long I have ended up spending more time looking at American politics than my own country. What is going on in the US does get more media coverage and what happens there has global implications because of America's super-power status. So it's unavoidable I end up discussing it online.

Sanders and Trump supporters do actually share similar concerns about how rigged the system in the US has become and favours those who already have wealth and power. We're all concerned about how unrepresentative the government and major parties are. We're all worried about Media bias, how much power politicians and companies have over shaping the message and fake news. We all feel that working hard isn't going to make ends meet and that opportunities are really limited. And no-one is really happy about where America is going.

And what's more... this is a very general mood shared through out the western world. Something has gone seriously wrong and we are each picking up on it in our own experiences.

If people focused on that, we'd realise just how much we agree with each other. It cuts through partisan lines and we are all basically getting pretty tired of the election, even before it's actually *cough* started. (Is it over yet? ) Republicans get worked up about "liberal elites" and Democrats get worked up about "the capitalist class", but really we are actually talking about the same thing. The labels get in the way however of us realising that and connecting over it. It's crazy.